The invention relates to a conveyor device for miter-box saws whereby the conveyor device is arranged on the inlet and/or outlet side of a miter-box saw that is swivelable in the horizontal plane and serves to transport the workpiece to be processed to the saw or away from the saw, and whereby the conveyor device is especially arranged horizontally movable perpendicular in relation to the direction of conveyance in order to be able to evade any swiveling of the saw.
Conveyor devices of this type usually consist of roller trains which extend as close to the cutting plane of the saw as possible in order to be able to process the bar material as completely as possible and consequently to be able to transport even the shortest residue pieces or approach pieces away. If now, however, the conveyor device is arranged this close to the machine, then it extends at least partially also into the swiveling region of the miter-box saw and would restrict this to the extent that the conveyance device were not movable horizontally out of the swiveling range.
For this reason, it is known in the state of the art to arrange conveyor devices close to the machine so that they are horizontally movable perpendicular in relation to the direction of conveyance, whereby the horizontal movement takes place through a chain drive which executes the transport movement of the conveyor device as a function of the swiveling angle of the miter-box saw. Since as the pivot angle of the miter-box saw becomes greater, the workpiece width to be processed diminishes, the width available for the conveyor device can also diminish to a corresponding extent without this leading to a basic impairment of the function of saw and conveyor device. On the other hand, when the miter-box saw is in the initial position and not swivelled, a material breadth corresponding almost to the entire conveyance width is processable so that horizontal transport of the conveyor device cannot be avoided even through simply narrower roller trains near the tool which from the start continuously leave free the pivoting range of the miter-box saw.
Proceeding from this, underlying the preceding invention is the object of improving a conveyor device for miter-box saws of the above-mentioned type, and especially to simplify its construction and mode of operation.
This object is accomplished in accordance with the invention in that the horizontal transport of the conveyor device takes place at least in part and in a direction of travel through the swivelling motion of the saw. In this way, one can at least spare a horizontal transport drive in the one swivelling direction and moreover a complicated control unit which takes into consideration the swivelling motion of the saw in the horizontal transport of the conveyor device. For if the horizontal transport is executed by the miter-box saw itself or through its pivot drive, then the extent of the transport motion is always exactly adapted to the swivelling motion of the miter-box saw and consequently to the necessary measure.
This coupling of the conveyor device and the miter-box saw is especially advantageous when the conveyor device lies under a preloading at a stop in the initial position and is movable back into the initial position by a drive means generating a preload in the opposite direction. In this way, one receives travel motions in both directions without separate travel drive. Rather it suffices to use the swivel drive of the miter-box say for the travel direction in the one direction and the preloading of a drive means for the travel motion in the other direction. Similar to the travel drive made available through the swivelling motion in the one direction, the preloading in the other direction, which always presses the conveyor device against the swivelled miter-box saw or in the initial position against the stop, ensures a position of the conveyor device adapted precisely to the miter-box saw so that even here no internal control unit is necessary for determining the path of travel.
It is especially advantageous if the drive means generating the preloading is a tension station which generates the preloading with the aid of a weight engaging on the conveyor device, in particular with the aid of a chain, so that this drive means conceivably can be simply configured, and the preloading force also does not subside during the lifetime of the conveyor device, and is adjustable trouble free.
As already known in connection with the previously described state of the art, the conveyor device also appropriately includes a roller train with several driven conveyor rollers, whereby the conveyor rollers arranged more distantly from the saw for compensation for lateral travel of the conveyor device relative to the conveyor range proper are built wider than the roller trains corresponding to the conveyor region. In this way, it is assured that even when the conveyor device is transported on the basis of the conveyor roller close to the machine, the conveyor rollers lying further away from the saw project corresponding to the maximum swivelling angle of the miter-box saw further in the direction of the swivelled saw and consequently into the conveyance area proper. In this way, the arrangement of the conveyor rollers of the roller train takes place with a stepped or graduated outer contour in order to position itself on the swivelled miter-box saw and consequently to be able to use the conveyance region outside the swivelling range fully.
In order to simplify the horizontal travel of the conveyor device, it is appropriately mounted on linear guides in the direction of conveyance and conveyable over these. In this way, the rolling resistance or resistance to travel drops considerably, and despite unfavorable leverage conditions of the swivelled miter-box saw engaging on the conveyor device, the swivelling motion is transformed into a horizontal travel motion. For this, the conveyor device appropriately has side pressure means and in particular pressure rollers which can be acted upon by the saw during swivelling and which serve to transfer the swivelling motion to the horizontally movable conveyor device.